in the heart of a dying star
by myrskytuuli
Summary: Loki lets go at the end of the spear. that is not how the story ends, it's how it begins. Crashing into a blue box in the space throws the young Prince to a journey of self discovery, growing and hopefully to become something more. the doctor just wants to make Loki smile again. Loki takes Claras Place as the doctors companion and has good/bad adventures through time and space.
1. epilouge

Epilogue

one starry night, just a blink away, or maybe ages ago, a little boy sat on a windowstill and looked longinly towards the sky. His muscels were still bruised and aching and his ego had taken even greater bruising on the evening.

His muscles had gotten beating in the form of getting completely trashed by a seasoned warrior and his ego got the bruising from being beaten up by a seasoned warrior, in front of the whole court of Asgard, in a ceremony that was supposed to show everyone how good he was at not getting beaten up by seasoned warriors.

So he sat on the windowstill of his dark room and stared at the stars, hoping for something to happen. To someone to come and take him away.

Another figure enterd the room. While this figure was of same size, that was where the similarities ended. This one was as bright as the one on the windowstill was dark.

"Brother?"

"Go away Thor."

"you should be sleeping, not sulking."

"You should be sleeping too, instead of bothering me."

"It was your own fault anyway, I told you not to skip so many fighting practices."

"I don't like them."

"But you have to like them. How will you learn to be a warrior if you dont practice?"

"Maybe I won't be a warrior then."

"Don't be ridiculous. What else would you be?"

"I could be a sorcerer. Then I wouldn't have to do anything else than read."

"Magic's for girls."

"Whatever Thor."

"What are you doing at the windowstill anyway?"

"Looking at the stars."

"Why?"

"Maybe I will see a time lord."

"You don't still believe in those silly stories."

"Mommy says they are real!"

"Mom also says that valkyries are real."

The dark boy just stayed quiet and hoped that his stupid brother would leave him alone.

"They're just stories. Fairytales for babies. That's why you failed the ceremony. You just read your stupid stories instead of practicing important things. Like combat."

The dark boy turned his back for his fair headed brother and the silence spoke for itself.

His brother sighed and left. The little boy on the windowstill blinked back tears. From this day onwards he would start losing his childhood belief on fairytales and time lords.

Luckily the universe would never stop believing in fairytales and time lords and one particular time lord would not stop believing in the boy.


	2. meetings in the void

_my first bublished story in a long, long time. This story will use the season seven from the show as it's setting, only replacing Clara with Loki. I have absolutely nothing against Clara, it was just a natural place to start when I started writing._

_reviews will be greatly appreciated and english is still not my first language, so please forgive any mistakes._

_reviews will be greatly appreciated. English is still not my first language, so forgive me all the mistakes._

* * *

"I could have done it father, for you!"

"Loki. No."

Or maybe it ended like this:

"Amy! NO!"

"Goodbye Doctor."

* * *

Of course, from the nonlinear point of view, nothing ever ends or begins, so you could say that on one point of the universe, a fallen god let go and fell in to the void and in the other point of the universe a shining, beautifull girl blinked.

These hapenings have nothing to do with one another, expect in the most subtle and the most complicated ways.

The thing about Loki is, that when he let go, he wasn't planing anything. Loki's life so far has been nothing but plans, being always one step ahead of others, thinking his steps through.

But in that moment, hanging over the universe, holding on to the scraps of what was left of his life and seeing the last hope being snatched away, Loki didn't plan. Didn't think or deceive. He just let go.

He let go of everything. His family, his future, his life and his hope. Nobody plans for something like that. To Loki it was the end. He let go and fell and in his mind there was no future or hope.

The thing about The Doctor is, that when Amy and Rory were gone, he planed to never take companions again. They said that it wasn't good for him to be alone and they were right, but it wasn't very good for his companions to be with him either. It was surprisingly easy choice. There would never again be another person in the Tardis. He wouldn't take another innocent and naive soul to see the wonders of the universe to only to be broken by that same universe.

It seemed that the universe had different ideas. When The Doctor decided to close the doors of the Tardis from companions forever, the universe decided to throw one on his lap. Literaly.

When Loki decided to let go and fall away, into forgetfullnes and nothingness, the universe decided to place something on his way.

(or maybe it was the Tardis. She was very insistent on taking a spin into the void in that particular moment.)

* * *

"Impossible!"

there are few things that The Doctor would consider impossible in this universe, mostly because he has seen almost everything thought to be impossible and most of the time been the one doing the impossible thing, or being that impossible thing.

But a person that was still showing life signals in the void was something that The Doctor would still consider impossible.

Apparently not, if the tardis wasn't lying, which she never did. (The Doctor at least liked to think so.)

The Doctor might have promised himself to stop interfering, but not interfering and leaving someone who is still alive floating in the empty space, were two very different things.

Quickly opening the doors of the tardis, The Doctor reached for the shape falling towards his ship.

The person seemed to be of humanoid shape, also of humanoid mass seeing the speed which it was approaching and...

"umph!"

...and on top of him.

Having had the breath knocked out of him and feeling a nasty bang on the back of his head, where it had collided with the metallic floor of the tardis, The Doctor tried to get some sense of who or what had he just catched.(Or collided with more like.)

Obviously a humanoid shape, quite long, lot of sharp angles, possibly male, was wearing something quite hard and uncomfrotable(at least for the one getting collided on) material, maybe armor...

The Doctors thoughts were halted when the newest acquirance of the tardis started to shakily scramble away from on top of him.

Doctor caught sight of a sharp face, locks of black hair and brilliant green eyes.

Seeing those eyes, so lost, so confused, glitering still with unshead tears that could not fall in the non gravity of space, doctor knew that he had just lost a battle with the universe.

"oh dear..."

Their unexpected guest started to rise, but apparently was not in the shape to fully get up, and ended up just sitting on the tardis floor, holding on to the rail with one hand for support.

The Doctor also rose from the ground to sit up and eyed his unexpected visitor with an critical eye.

Humanoid shape, but did not feel like a human. Not least because it had survived in the void. Male, at least seemed to be. Lanky and tall, propably even taller than The Doctor. Was wearing somekind of an armor and leather coat double.

For a moment the green eyes kept zigzagin across the consol room, trying to take everything in, mouth slightly agape from shock. Then the face sealed off and all the flickering curiosity disappeared from the green eyes.

Not good. Very not good! nobody should look that apathetic while seeing the Tardis for the first time. It was slightly insulting and very much worrying.

"Okay then! Mysterious man from the space, who I just picked from the void. No need to thank me, I just saved you from the vast emptyness of the universe. No big deal realy. Anyway, I'm The Doctor and who might you be and more importantly what were you doing in space!"

The man lazily focused his gaze on The Doctor and then let his eyes slip out again. It seemed that he had trouble focusing on anything and Doctor wasn't even sure he had heard the question. At least he showed no signs of hearing anything that the doctor had just said.

Quickly Doctor got up and walked towards this mystery man. Doctor gently placed his fingers on the mans cheek.

Feeling the touch, the man visibly flinched and sucked in quick breath. Erratic green eyes finaly focused on Doctors face.

"you can't be real." he whispered and then his eyes started wandering again.

Gently taking the starngers face in his hands the Doctor turned the green eyes to meet him again.

"No, no listen. I'm very real, all of this is very real. You are in the tardis now, you are safe. You are not hallucinating, or going mad or... whatever you think is happening right now. . ."

"impossible." The voice was still weak, but the eyes seemed to be more focused now.

Doctor felt the grin bloom on his face seeing those eyes start to come back alive.

"I know. Isn't it wonderfull. I love impossible things!"

There was now light frown between those dark eybrows. "But, I... I'm going mad...there's no other ex-"

"oy! Focus. You are not going mad, you realy are here. Now focus." For reassurance, the doctor pinched the strangers arm and got a fast yelp in exhange.

"ah!"

"see! Deffinetly real. Now, tell me your name."

"Who are you?!"

"hey! I asked first, but well, I'm The Doctor. As I already once said. Now the question was: who are you?"

The green eyes blinked once, before the answer came. "Loki. Loki... Just Loki."

"well then Loki. Nice to meet you. Now I have to ask, what were you doing in the void?"

"I..I fell."

Now Lokis eyes had started to fidget again. And he was attempting to raise on his feet.

"Where am I?! And WHO are you?! How-?! Why-!? The voice was starting to get an panicky edge to it and while Loki bravely tried to get himself on a standing position, using the rail as a help, It was obvious that his body was not yet up to it.

"Wait! Loki! Now just calm down. I'm the doctor, you are in the tardis, which is my spaceship, and I can help you. Just... sit back down. Take it easy."

loki did not listen, he yanked himself upright, hands and legs trembling and attempted to take a step ahead.

Wrong move as he instantly collapsed down and the doctor had to scramble to catch him before he hit the floor.

"Loki! Loki! Now what did I just say. Why can't anyone ever listen! Now Loki are you oka...Oh you're unconscious."

...

"Why does these things always happen to me?!"

The tardis just hummed little louder.

"Yes, you are probably right, but still!"

* * *

Loki slept long enough for the Doctor to see three colapsing stars, five supernovas and two collapses of great civilizations. Or you could say that he slept an one Coroxxaxian month. Or one earth day. Inside the tardis you could choose what kind of time system you wanted to count with and you were probably still wrong in your counting. all time inside the tardis is relative time.

When Loki finaly woke up, the Doctor was in the kitchen, pouring himself tea. It was regrettable that in universal scale, tea was quite hard to come by. Especially in planets were the natives didn't even posses mouths.

The Doctor was just pouring himself a cuppa when the door to the kitchen banged open and Loki stormed in.

Dark hair in disaray, eyes wide, mouth half open and breath panting, Loki looked like the textbook example of disarray. He was wearing the same light clothes that he had had beneath the armor. Doctor had taken the armor of before dragging the tall man to bed. There was no way that the doctor would have dragged his heavy patient anywhere with the armor also weighting in.

"Hellou! I see that you are already up, would you like some tea?"

Loki turned his eyes to the doctor and blinked several times.

"It wasn't a dream."

"No I'm afraid not. And I suggest that you sit down now. You are starting to look alarmingly pale, also your breathing is becoming very franctic again, seriously come on and sit and take some tea. Helps you calm down. Also, we need to talk."

* * *

"So...you are a time lord."

"living, breathing, both hearts beating."

"And we are in your ship that can travel both through space and time?"

"Thats her. The good old girl."

"and I believed it to be a fairytale," Loki snorted into his teacup, like a man who had given up all hope of the world making any kind of sense.

"What?"

"You. Time lords. Gallifrey. We have books about Gallifrey, but they are believed to be nothing more than fairytales told to children. They are bed time stories only made to entertain. The time lords flying through time and space, always watching, but never seen. Old wives tales. Maybe I am still dreaming."

"Don't worry, I make a good imaginary friend. Excelent imaginary friend. You could almost say that I'm an professionalist imaginary friend. Expect that you are not imagining me obviously. You are quite awake... But enough about me, Where exactly are you from, that they tell fairytales about us?"

"Asgard. I'm from Asgard."

"Asgard! Of course! Stupid Doctor, it should have been obvious. You are a though lot you aesir, aren't you. Well even I wouldn't have quessed that you would be though enough to survive in the void, but better this way eh! Asgard, lovely planet, mind you it has been a long time since I last visited Asgard. Very long. Part of the nine realms isn't it? Such an interesting phenomenom, nine different planets, from nine different galaxies connected by an intergalactic dark matter rippling ion from the q-space, or a spacey wacey road like I like to call it. I think you use the word bifrost."

Loki just nodded. It was clear that half of the babble had flied straight over his head.

"So what happened? How did an aesir end up in the void?"

"I...fell."

"very enlightning. Would you like to maybe add little bit more details to your story"

…

"No"

"Okay then. Where should I drop you off?"

there was a slight flash of panic in those green eyes before they hardened fast.

"I meant in Asgard of course. What place and more importantly what time?"

"No!" Now the voice did have an edge of panicky in it.

"I mean... It would not be wise for me to return to Asgard."

"Realy. And why would that be?"'

Loki had not yet noticed it himself, but his hands were slightly shaking. The Doctor had noticed.

The Doctor had noticed many things about Loki in their little chat. Like that Loki was more tired than he let on, and not entirely in the physichal sense. He was also more scared than he let on. And not once had he shown any desire to return back home. Usually that would be on the top list after unwanted dive onto the void. But no. Loki spoke about Asgard and its fairytales with an nostalgia of someone who has already lost his home. It was uncomfortably familiar tone to the Doctor.

Loki had turned his head away from the Doctor and was staring intensely to the distance. He was blinking rabidly, obviously trying to keep his eyes dry.

Reaching across the small table the doctor gathered Lokis hands from around the empty tea cup and took them on his owns.

"Loki, Why did you fall?"

Loki turned his gaze back to the doctor. His voice was solemn but steady. "Because I let go."

"Ang why did you let go."

"I had no more reason to hold on."

That was when Doctor lost. There were no more promises of indifference or plans of solitary. There was Loki and right now Loki needed a Doctor.

Raising from his place The Doctor stepped around the table to Loki. Loki rose up from his chair, clearly confused, and grew even more confused when The Doctor wrapped his arms around him in a hug.

"What..."

"Shhs. Im your bedtime story and do you know what bedtime stories are supposed to do?"

"No."

"They comfort."

...

"Have you ever seen the birth of a world?"

* * *

The Doctor has seen the forming of planets so many times that he's lost count. Loki hasn't. He's standing there, next to the grinning Doctor, mouth hanging open and just looking. Looking at the swirling colorful gasses and dust clouds and floating rocks swirling around. Seemingly randomly, but slowly drawing nearer towards one another. One of the most inspiring and breath taking scenes in the universe.

"What is it?"

To his joy, the Doctor noted that the underlying fear and despair had finaly dissappeared from Loki's voice. It was now filled with the proper wonder and awe of witnessing the creation of a whole new world.

"This my friend, is Asgard. 7,8 billion years before your birth. No solar system, just matter floating in space, slowly forming and taking shape and eventually forming into Asgard."

"It's beautifull."

Loki was smiling. When he smiled he looked very much younger. Like any other companion facing the wonders of the universe for the first time. Curious, happy, awed. It suited Loki much better than the scared and lost look of the before.

Loki was slowly streching his arm into the space, almost reaching the meteorite floating by them.

"Come on then." The Doctor pushed Loki out of the tardis door.

Even without seeing Lokis face, the Doctor could feel the flash of horror from Loki for being dropped into the space. The Doctor fastly grabbed a tight grib on Lokis wrist, silently reminding himself to be a bit more sensitive in the future.

"It's okay. I won't let you fall."

Loki twisted his head to look at the doctor and looked like he would argue, but then he just gribbed the Doctors wrist with his own fingers and turned to touch the still gently floating stone.

"Now you are the first asgardian to ever touch the ground of Asgard."

Loki tensed for a millisecond there and the Doctor catalouged it away in his mind as a thing that needed to be looked into, but not now.

"It is so huge. I thought that it was huge before, when looking up at the night sky, but it so much bigger. The starry sky was just a small part of it all and now... and now it is all around me. So much vaster." Then more silently Loki added clearly to only himself; "I would have fallen forever."

"That's the universe all right. And even still, it is so much bigger and better and more wonderful than you could ever imagine. But do you know the best part? The best part is that we can go anywhere and anytime in it that we want."


	3. rings of akhaten part 1

_Oh Gods I'm so sorry about the wait. When I started publishing this story, I honestly thought that I would update maybe weekly or so, but then depression and other great things hit me in the face and I'm sorry. so sorry. Hopefully the chapter at least won't suck, seeing that you had to wait for it for so long._

_please review, I seriously want to hear every single opinion that there is about this story._

**rings of akhaten**

"So how does all of this work then? No sorcerer has ever succeeded in time travel. Once I read a theory about stopping time, but nobody has ever succeeded in that either, not even the vanir. And theoreticallyc all time based magic runs into the problem of the magical energy not being abel to flow in the frozen moment. Of course the great Skid had once proposed that by using the magic anchored in the ancient power ritual places and catalysing the magical echo with the movements of the stars..."

"Yeah, it doesn't work like that, definitely not like that."

"But how..."

"Not by psion energy, thats for sure. Or you know, magic. Don't think about it too much, I could explain, but you wouldn't understand it anyways. just think of it as wibbly wobbly timey wimey. Now where do you wanna go?"

the Doctor let his hands hover over the control board and grinned at Loki, wiggling his fingers.

"So we can go anywhere in time and space?"

"yes. Now where do you want to go? The past? The future? New planet? Galaxy? End? Begining?

The Doctor talked fast and looked at his newest companion excitedly.

"I...I...I don't know." Loki found himself saying. It was true. There was a time lord standing in front of him, offering to take him anywhere and any time in the universe. How did you make such a decision? How did you even know what to ask? "Do you know the feeling when someone asks you to preform a spell, any spell at all, and suddenly you forget all the spells you've ever known."

"No, I can't say that I do."

"Because that's exactly how I am feeling right now."

"You are overthinking this. Relax! We are supposed to be having fun! Just think about something you have always wanted to see."

Loki had many places he had always wished to see in the nine realms, but things had changed. While he had many times wished to see the history of his home, even the word home made his stomach crawl. Loki had a feeling that none of the sights he had once dreamed of, would right now bring him any joy.

"Take me somwhere far away. Somwhere that I can't even imagine right now."

"Oh I love your spirit!" the Doctor grinned and pulled the lever.

The tardis shook and wobbled with the familiar worping sound. Loki gripped the safety rail to keep his balance and tried to soothe his nerves. This was going to be a good thing. The Doctor was a time lord and he was on an adventure like the ones that he had always read about as a child. This time everything would not end up like... Like everything else in Lokis life.

The Doctor had his hand on the tardis door. Loki was standing next to him, all his nerves prickling. This was going to be a good thing, Loki repeated in his mind.

"Are you ready?" The Doctor was grinning from ear to ear, almost jumping up and down.

"Yes" Loki answered keeping all his feelings out of his voice. The Doctor seemed a bit disappointed by Lokis flat voice, but only showed it for a second, before his smile turned back on.

"Good!" The Doctor pushed the door open and rushed out. Loki followed a bit more cautiously. When he had stepped out, Loki let his eyes devour the new scenery before him.

They had stepped out into a bare rocky ground, that turned out to be a relatevily small meteor, floating around a great orange glowing planet, no a star. The star was circled by milions and again milions of other meteors, both great and small. The meteors created rings around the alien sun, that intrestengly was not too bright to look straightly at.

Nearer the sun, than what they had landed, was a great rock littered with little lights. There was some kind of settlement in there then. Loki wondered if Asgard looked a bit like that too, seen from enough of a distance.

"Welcome to the rings of akhaten." The Doctor gestured with his hands.

"Where are we?

"Somwhere far away, that you could have never imagined."

"Who live down there?" Loki asked pointing at the great rock, where you could faintly see the outlines of cities and faint glittering lights.

"You'll see soon, but first look up there- no there. Yes that rock! Follow it with your eyes, good. Three, Two, one..."

The meteor the Doctor was pointing at was relatively small, floating along others, but on top of it there was a triangular shape of a build pyramid. When The Doctor reached the end of his count down, the top of the pyramid started to shine bright golden light, reflecting the orange glow of the star.

It was absolutely beautifull.

"What is it?" Loki asked, feeling the knot in his stomach to loosen up. Here he was, seeing something so beautifull that no asgardian had ever seen before. The best thing was that he had no obligations, no other worries than to enjoy the moment. When had been the last time he had been able to just do that.

"The pyramid of the rings of Akhatean. Its a holy sight for the sun singers of the Kept. They gather from all over the seven worlds to see the allignment."

"The who of what?"

"Seven planets, well not all of them are acctually classified as planets, but whatever, orbiting the same star, all sharing the belief that all of the life in the universe originated in here. From this star."

"Well they're wrong." Loki laughed a little before letting his eybrows knit together. "Or are they?"

"Well, that's what they believe."

"Yes but-" The Doctor just put a finger on his lips to silence him. "not why we are here." The Doctor winked. Loki found himself rolling his eyes and surprised even himself when he realised that he was smiling.

Loki had not felt this light in years. It was like being a child again and discovering magic and spells for the first time. Expect that this time there was nobody here to judge him for feeling joy and passion for the wrong art. This was pure exictment and The Doctor was not judging him, instead he was sharing the feeling with Loki. It felt nice. Unbelievably nice. He was getting drunk on the feeling.

"Can we see it up close?" Loki pointed at the settlement down below them.

The Doctor just smiled and offered his hand. Loki surprised even himself by how readily he took up the offered hand. He was definitely losing his senses over this bubbly excitment in his stomach. Still he returned the Doctors smile before they dashed back to the tardis.

The worping could be barely heard over the hassle going on in the market and everyone was too busy to pay notice to the blue box materialising in the silent shadowy corner of the marketplace.

When Loki jumped out, he was instantly punched in the face by all the noises and smells and sensations of the alien enviroment surrounding him.

It was almost like a market place in back hom...Asgard, expect that it wasn't. There were no aesir, instead there were creatures all kinds of sizes, colours and shapes. All shuffling in the crowd, doing business, going on with their lives. There were vendors, selling things that Loki couldn't even start to imagine what they were for. The familiar market place noise was there, but different than what Loki was used to. It was at the same time so achingly familiar and so alien, new, different. Loki loved it and he found himself laughing aloud.

"Enjoying yourself?"

"Yes! What are they! I never even imagined there being so many different races beyond the nine realms!"

"oh Loki! Even I haven't met all of the creatures in the universe and believe me, I've met a lot."

"But you do know these ones?"

"These are all from the local systems. Lets see..."

then the Doctor fired of bunch of names, that loki had no hope remembering, while pointing at the creatures in question.

It seemed to be true what the Doctor said about knowing many creatures in the universe, for he seemed to recognise all of them and while walking the narrow streets, even greeted some of them personaly.

"You speak all-tongue too?" Loki asked while noticing that none of the creatures had any problems at understanding what The Doctor was saying to them. Loki guessed that it was something to be expected from a fabled time lord, but still the teachings of how Asgard was the only realm in the universe to hold the secrets to the golden apples that gifted you among other things the gift of all-tongue, were firmly playing in Lokis head.

"Oh yes, of course, the tardis doesn't need to translate to you as you allready have the translating cortex in your head. And to answer your question yes, allthought technicaly I think it were the time lords that gave you asgardians the ability of the all-tongue, so technicaly you have been using the tardis translation circuit your entire life."

"The time lords have gifted the aesir?" Loki asked disbelievingly.

"It was a long, long, long time ago."

Loki wondered what a time lord would consider a long time, but decided against asking. He was still trying to find his limits with the time lord.

They were making their way through the crowd, weaving in the pulsing masses of aliens packed on to the narrow paths between the stalls.

"I like it in here, should come more often." The Doctor spotted something in the distance and started to drag loki with him towards one of the stalls a bit more on the side.

"look! They're giving out samples!"

No sooner than loki could blink, was something pressed into his hands by the smiling Doctor.

"Local food! Always the best!"

The thing on Lokis hand turned out to be a slightly glowing blue...fruit he guessed. Loki sniffed it.

"Don't worry. It is entirely safe for both of our digestions! Look!" The Doctor then took a bite out of his own fruit, munching on it happily.

Loki took a very small bite out of his own. The fruit had a sharp taste to it. Kind of chilly, but the aftertaste turned out to be very sweet. Loki took another bite, this time a bit bigger. He found himself liking the weird taste.

"So is everyone here for the allignment?" Loki asked between bites.

the Doctor smiled at Loki. "For the festival of offerings, yes. It takes place when the rings are all in alligment, quite a big thing localy, a bit like the pancake tuesday."

the what? Loki was starting to get used to the fact that half of the time he had no idea what The Doctor was talking about.

"care for a moped!?"

Loki was startled out of his thoughts by the voice yelling next to his ear. Turning around he could see some kind of an creature, bald, grey, quite flat faced, wearing an armor and shackles like a hardcore fashion statement.

"um doctor. Who is he and whats an moped?" Loki whipered to his travel guides ear.

"Oh! This is Doreen. Loki, Doreen, Doreen, Loki Not he a she. And the moped is the thing she is trying to rent you. See over there. They have something a little bit similiar on earth. You don't have motor powered engines in asgard? No, I think you were still using the horses. And those flying boats. Isn't it funny, one of the oldest civilizations and still using horses. Well nothing wrong with horses but..."

"Doctor. Rambling."

"yeah, sorry, I do that sometimes. Sorry Doreen, just looking around, come on Loki."

They were again skipping between the stalls and examing all the different knick knacks on sight.

Loki saw some aliens do purchases but no gold seemed to be involved anywhere.

"What do they use as a currency? Nobody seems to have any coins with them."

"Yes they do not use money or gold. All the purchases are done with something valuable. For the customer. Sentimentaly valuable. Old photograph, love letter, family heirloom. Something like that. Objects physicly imprinted with their history. The more emotionaly important, the more valuable the object is."

"How...unusual. Seems very unpractical. Allthought I do understand the idea, many magical spells need that kind of power too. But isn't it dangerous. Using that kind of thing as a currency. What if you get too enthralled by all that historical energy. It can happen to sorcerers sometimes."

"Yes, because no one in history has ever gotten too enthralled by gold or money."

"Point taken."

Lokis eyes catched sight of an some sort of an ritual. A Group of people were sitting in a silent nook covered in carpets and holding hands. They were humming something and Loki could almost taste the magic that was gathering in their locked hands. But the magic felt so different and alien than the one he was used to. Loki was tempted to walk over and ask to join them.

Taking the more cautious road, Loki let his eyes slip shut and felt the magic within him reach the edges of the alien power. The experience was much like tasting the alien fruit again. New, strange, but not unpleasant.

Opening his eyes again, Loki turned where he assumed the Doctor to be. He wasn't there.

"Doctor!?"

Nothing. Zipping between the paths, Loki tried to find his lost guide. He wasn't panicking he told himself sternly. He wasn't being abandoned in an alien world.

Lokis thoughts were cut off when a red running blur Collided with him. "Whoa!" Loki breathed out, steadying himself and the blur he had collided with.

The blur turned out to be a young girl wearing a red cape. She looked almost like an aesir child, expect that she had some kind of markings on her face. They could have been scars, or then natural for the children of this world. Loki had no way of knowing.

Big brown eyes looked up to him, big and scared. With golden hair flying, she skipped past Loki and continued running.

Then the next second, two men, wearing also red capes and having the same kind of markings on their face, appeared behind the same corner that the girl had arrived.

"Have you seen the Queen?" the other questioned in a grave voice while marching towards Loki.

"Who?" Loki asked with his patented innocent voice. Tilting his head to the side for the effect.

The two chasers looked over Loki like he wasn't worth their time and then towards one another. Nodding to each other they too skipped past Loki and continued their march.

Loki looked their way with raised eybrow and smirked a little. There was sweet satisfaction in knowledge that both of the men had just walked past some usefull knowledge with a sneer.

Loki shook his head and started once again to think of ways to track the time lord.

Loki drew a breath and decided that he had to stay calm. There was no use running around like a headless chicken. Loki stepped to stand next to the stone wall, so he wouldn't be on anyones way. Then he once again slipped his eyes shut and let his magic to do the seeing for him.

Magic as a sixth sense is not comparable to any of the other senses. To His magic, the other magic users in the vicincy were like bright spots, shining in the world of energies. Loki tried to concentrate on feeling the life around him. Of course everything was unfamiliar and alien, but loki tried to find something familiar. The complicated energy flow of the time lord should be recognisable to him, if he were to just find him.

Loki did not sense the Doctor before he was distracted by something else.

A small flickering sensation that he had collided with before, and that for some reason had left an impact even to his magic. The girl. She was scared.

Loki snapped his eyes open again. The girl had not felt like a witch. In fact the energy that Lokis magic felt when touching the child had not felt any magic in the girl. Still, there had been something, some kind of power in there that Lokis senses had picked up on.

Most of all, Loki had sensed her fear.

Loki shut his eyes once again, this time concentrating on only finding the curious non-power of the child.

The trail led Loki to one of the dark and damp back alleys. Then through a small hole in the wall into a even darker room. When lokis eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could see piles of abandoned junk and twisted metal filling the room. Loki didn't care about that, what he did care was the faint breathing that Loki could hear in the darkness.

The girl was crouching behind one of the big boxes and was obviously scared.

Seeing Loki The girl looked ready to bolt again.

"Hey, wait. I'm not going to hurt you." Loki tried to sound soothing and non threathening. To Lokis own ears his voice sounded false and slippery and Loki doubted that the girl could ever be comforted by such voice. To Lokis surprise the girl however halted her run and turned to face Loki.

The girl cautiously stepped back and acidently felled one of the metal pipes behind her. She let out a little scream and now bolted towards loki. Loki put a steadying hand on her shoulder before she would stumble on the floor.

They both looked at each other and then the girl smiled hesitantly. Loki smiled back and soon they both shared a little laugh.

"Are you allright?"

The girl nodded

"What are you doing here?"

"Hiding" she answered.

"Oh, why?"

Now the girl looked at Loki with questioning eyes. "You don't know me?" she said with voice that implied that it should be impossible to not to know her.

"No, I don't. Sorry."

"So why did you follow me?"

"I don't know. Curiosity I guess. Or maybe I thought that I could help."

"I don't believe you."

The girl started backing away, doubt clear in her eyes.

"Now, I have no idea who you should be or who you might be. I just saw a little girl running away from two large men and got curious. I also have no idea who those two men were, but between you and me, I think I like you much more than those rude and stupid men chasing you."

"Realy?"

"Realy."

"Can you help me to hide?"

"little one, there is nobody better at hiding than me."

Loki had had his whole life to practice the "I'm innocent, deffinetly not on my way to break some rules, oh look again now I'm gone walk". These weren't the halls of Asgard, but that didn't slow Loki down, he had always been good at adapting. It didn't take long for Loki to get his new charge to the tardis, that was still parked in the corner.

Expect that the doors were not even budging.

"oh come on. Don't you trust me without the doctor."

….

"okay, I wouldn't probably either. Come on, behind then." Loki ushered his new charge into the small hiding space left between the wall and the tardis.

"So little girl. What's happening."

"my name is Merry."

"So Merry, what's happening?"

"I'm scared."

"Of what. Is someone trying to hurt you?"

The idea that someone was trying to hurt this little child did not sit well with Loki. Not many would believe it, but he actualy liked children. They were mischivious and curious by nature. They also were less set on their prejudges and norms than adults tended to be.

"No. I'm just scared of getting it wrong."

That didn't explain as much as he had hoped for.

"can you explain like I was a visitor from another world entirely."

The girl huffed, but started still talking.

"I'm Merry Galel."

"Another world, remember."

"The queen of years."

"Very far off world."

"I was chosen when I was a baby. When the last queen of years died."

"Okay."

"I'm the vessel of our history. I know every chronicle, every poem, every legend, every song."

"All of them? Dear valhalla, and my tutors used to say that I read too much."

"Now I have to sing a song in front of everone. A special song. A song to our god. I'm realy scared."

And the girl was. Loki could tell, she was terrified. Loki recognized the signs. He had once been the same.

"You know what Merry. I realy am from another far away world. And in that world I used to be a prince."

"Merry looked at him first with doubt in her eyes, but then she nodded. It was the power of childhood belief. The same belief that had made Loki belief in time lords and now made Merry believe in princes from another worlds.

"When I was little, like you are now, I had to prove my skills in front of the whole kingdom. I was given a sword and then I had to go to the arena all alone and everybody was watching and I was scared to death. If I failed I would bring shame to my whole family and I was so sure that if I failed then I would have no more future and my family would abandon me.

Then my mother pulled me aside and told me that I had no reason to be scared. I would always be their little boy and nothing could ever breake that. She told me that both she and father were sure that I would champion in the fight."

"What happened?"

"My world ended. I lost. There was me, with too heavy sword and then there was one of the old soldiers and he took me down with just few blows. One of them hit me in the head and I fainted there, in front of the whole kingdom."

The girl looked horrified, she was fully enthralled by the tale and gasped at Lokis misfortune.

"But then I woke up in the sick room and mother was there, holding my hand. She told me that she was so proud of me for being brave enough to face a opponent I knew I couldn't win."

"What about your father?"

"He...wasn't so proud. But the point is that My world didn't end then. She said that it was a proof that no matter what, I would always be her brave little boy and that she would always be there for me to remind me of that."

"Did you ever get scared again."

"Oh yes. All the time. But not ever mother abandoning me."

Lokis eyes grew glassy as he gazed the dirty stone wall in front of him. His mind however saw asgard again. The grand halls, mothers soft eyes. It was true, after that he had never been afraid of his mother abandoning him, but it hadn't matterd. He had failed them all, this time even mother. He doubted that even Frigga would love him anymore. If she had ever loved him in the first place. It might be better that he never found out, as he was too afraid of the answer.

Thor had of course championed with ease back then, Like he always championed easy, no matter at what.

Needing to chace the thoughts away, Loki turned again to his new little royal friend.

"About your song. What exactly are you scared of about it?"

"Getting it wrong. And making grandfather angry."

Loki couldn't help it. He felt for the girl, more than he would admit on being comfrotable around.

"You know what Merry. I don't think you will get it wrong. You know why? Because when I was little, I used to skip all my fighting lessons. I would hide from my masters and didn't learn a thing. Then when I was supposed to show my skills, I had no skills to show. What about you Merry, have you skipped your lessons?"

"No" Merry shaked her head.

"And have you studied those songs as hard as you can?"

"Yes." a nod now

"Well, then. There is no reason why you would get it wrong. I think, that you Merry Galel are going to get it very right."

Loki did not expect to have a lapfull of hugging little Queen latched on him, but suddenly he did. After getting over the shock, loki akwardly placed his arms around the little girl. It was stupid but he could feel his throat tightening because of little Merry who was so gladly pressed against him.

Merry was still holding his hand when they walked back into the bustling marketplace. Soon they both spotted the two red caped men, clearly interrogating some poor vendor. When they noticed Merry with Loki, they both froze. Loki couldn't help the smirk on his face when he gestured for Merry to walk forward.

Soon getting over their shock, the men strode to Merry and placed an beautifull white flower necklace over her head. Merry glanced once over her shoulder and waved to Loki while she was led away by her chaperones. Loki waved back.

"Who are you waving to?"

Loki jumped around to see the Doctor standing behind him.

"Where were you!?" Loki accused at his wayward guide.

"Where were _you_!? I was worried sick when I found that you hadn't followed me. Have you heard the urban legend of the traveller who gets lost in the marketplace?"

"Please don't enlighten me." Loki rolled his eyes.

"Fine fine. C'mon then. If you could please follow me this time, the main show is about to start."

Both time lord and the Asgardian started making their way through the crowd to see even more of this exiting alien world.


	4. rings of akhaten part 2

Loki found himself to be led to an huge amphitheathre on the edge of the city. Literaly on the edge. The stage was surrounded on the other side by the stands for spectators and on the other side the floor dropped down to the space. Loki hoped that this was not used as an fighting arena, for he could imagine much too easily the many ways that that could go wrong without edges.

The Doctor led Loki to sit down on the few empty places still left on the stands.

"So where were you anyway?"

"shs"

"Where are we now?"

"shhhs"

Loki rolled his eyes. He had the most unhelpfull guide in the whole universe.

Loki however forgot all about his annoyance, when he saw who had come to stand on the stage. It was Merry, glad in her red cape and white flowers. She spotted Loki in the crowd and smiled nervously. Loki tried smiling encouraginly back. He wasn't sure if he sucseeded, as he had never had to encourage anyone before.

At least Merry hadn't been discouraged, as she calmly stepped on the pedestial and turned to face the glowing sun. She started to sing in her high but pure voice.

Loki felt himself smiling again. Merry had beautifull voice, the idea that the audience wouldn't love her was ridiculous.

Funny, this was more real smiling in one day, than he had done in years in Asgard.

"They're singing to the mummy inside the temple. Old god they call it. Sometimes grandfather." The Doctor whispered to Loki, apparently deciding to start acting as an tour guide again.

"God? What kind of an god?"

"Well, obviously an old one. I know what you are thinking. You are thinking of the humans who used to think your kind as gods. Now don't think of them."

"I wasn't."

"yes you were, it's not very nice, making everybody think that you are a god."

"I didn't do anything. I wasn't even there."

The Doctor still looked like he had something to say, so Loki quickly changed the subject.

"What are they singing?"

"The long song. The lullaby without an end. To feed the old god, keep him asleep. It's been going on for thousands of years, generation after generation continuing the tradition."

Merrys voice rose a little and as one, the crowd all raised one hand in the air, palm up.

"What are they doing?"

"They are making offerings."

Now that he looked, Loki could see that each palm was holding up some kind of an object.

"mementos to feed the old god."

as one the objects in their hands started to glow and dissolve into a soft golden light. Loki could feel the magic dancing in the air. Whatever or whoever the old god was, the offering ceremony was magical.

When the objects had dissolved completly, the crowd joined the song. Everyone swayed slightly to the rhythm and the Doctor attempted to sing with them, even if he did not know the words.

Loki was hit with the feeling that this was the first time that he was actualy enjoying a ceremony of any kind.

It was propably because this time he was on the crowd, rather than facing it and this time nobody expected anything of him. He was here just to enjoy. Did the crowds in Asgard too feel like this, when attending the fancy ceremonies that he had personally always dreaded.

Loki was violently ripped from his content feelings, when the crowd suddenly started to buzz around him. Merry had stopped singing.

It was clear that this was not supposed to happen as the silence was eerie and broken only by the very confused audience members whispering to eachother.

Merry turned around and the panic was clear in her eyes. Loki didn't know why she had stopped singing, but judging from the actual pain showing on her face, he doubted it was because she had forgotten the words. For one second her brown eyes locked with Lokis green ones. A second before her small form was circled by an orange light that started to lift her up in the air.

Now the girl was flailing her arms inside the light and screaming. Loki reacted instictivily. He might have been a monster, but even a frost giant runt couldn't just watch as a little child was in danger. Pushing his way up to the arena Loki crossed the sand and reached for the girl. He had promised her that she would be safe. This was one moment in his life that he desperately wished that his words wouldn't turn into lies.

Loki was too late. The light snatched the girl beyond his reach and speeded her away into the open darkness. Lokis feet halted on the edge of the sand. Just before the drop. Merry had already disapeared.

The Doctor had come behind Loki and grapped his arm, propably to make sure that he wouldn't do anything stupid like jump into the void or anything.

The Doctor gripped Lokis arm firmly and started to pull him off the edge. "C'mon Loki. We have to go."

"Doctor! We cant...we can't just walk away! Can't we?"

The Doctor kept pulling.

"this is my fault! I told her to do this! I failed her!...I... failed her..."

Now the doctor gripped both of Lokis arms and turned the asgardian to look him in the eyes.

"Listen." he said with serious voice."There is one thing you need to know about traveling with me. We don't walk away. Never."

Loki blinked once then twice and then nodded. His twinkly eyed tour guide had turned into an creature of myths, with eyes that demanded respect.

Loki let himself to be led by The Doctor who made a beeline towards the marketplace.

"I need something precious. Something valuable, I need to make a purchase."

"Don't you have anything, you're the one who has been traveling through space and time for thousand years."

Picking up his...device from his inner pocket The Doctor said: "I only have this and we might still need it."

"Thousand years and only thing you have is a...what a wand?"

"Actualy it's a screwdriver."

Not having time to argue, loki ripped one of the buttons in his shirt. He hadn't been wearing the armor, only the lighter clothes that went under it. Luckily it was still of asgardian wear.

"The Doctor looked at the offered button with an raised eybrow. "Realy?"

"it's from Asgard."

the only things left for him of asgard were his clothes now, so everything he was wearing was seeped with memories of lost home. He didn't say this to The Doctor , but The Doctor seemed to understand anyways, as he took the engraved button into his hand.

The purchased moped took them safely to the pyramid. That was the easy part, Loki knew that. Gazing up at the massive stone pyramid Loki also knew that whatever would come next, would not be easy.

Frustrated he glanced at the meteor they had left. Meteor hosting propably hundreds of thousands of people.

"How can they all just watch and not help. We are the only ones to come after her!"

"Because this is sacred ground and he is a god. A god to them at least."

Loki rebelliously thought that something like this would never happen at Asgard, but his mind slipped into an image of himself standing in that arena, small and scared, facing a seasoned warrior twice his height. Would the crowd have done anything if Lokis life had been in danger. Loki tried to tell himself that the situation was different then. That they were a warrior race and it had been Lokis responsibility to be ready for the challenge. Loki couldn't quite convince himself and not for a second did he believe that anyone would have tried to help him if it would have gone against the allfathers wishes.

Merry screamed inside the temple. Loki was ripped from his own thoughts instantly.

"Hold on!" he screamed against the stone door of the temple and consentrated. He needed his magic. He needed it now!

The power inside him answered and slammed against the stone door. The stone door answered by slamming back. Countless wards and counter curses made their way back to lokis fingertips throught the connection. Lokis eyes flashed red and then he found himself on his knees, gasping for breath and trying to not vomit. Loki gathered his scrambled mind back together in a blink. He had no time for this. He had panicked and acted without thinking. He needed to try something more subtle, something that would work around the wards.

The Doctor stepped right up and pointed his "screwdriver" at the door. There was a whirring sound and to Lokis utter amazement the stone door started to agonizingly slowly open up.

Inch by inch the door crawled upwards. Loki looked at the device that The Doctor was holding on his hands. The Doctor could deny it all he wanted, but the device had to have some magical powers. Apparently powers stronger (or just more sociophisticated) than Lokis own.

Loki did not spare too many thoughts to that mystery right now, because he could see the outline of Merry standing in the darkness of the temple. The girl seemed unhermed to Lokis eternal relief. The Doctor also saw the girl inside and adressed her while forcing the doorway to open up enough for the girl to fit through.

"Hellou! I'm The Doctor, You've already met Loki, he was supposed to have a nice day out. Still, are you coming. This door is immensionly heavy, I'm not going to be able to hold it up forever."

For Lokis confusion the girl did not rush towards the open door and safety. Instead she shook her head stubornly. "Leave, you'll wake him!"

"Did I mention, that the door is realy, realy heavy." The Doctor was clearly struggling with the door, so Loki bent down and squeezed inside.

The inside of the temple was very bare. The only thing drawing your eye was the raised glass cage in the middle holding a sitting mummified figure inside. Loki assumed that this was the "old god." In front of the raised steps was kneeling a man hidden beneath a red robe, chanting and rocking slighty back and forwards. He didn't seem to notice anything that was going on around him, but Loki almost felt like kicking him for spite anyway. Merry was standing right there tears in her eyes.

"Come on Merry, we need to leave."

"NO!" she screamed and took a steps backwards. "Go away! You said that I wouldn't get it wrong. And then I got it wrong and now this happens!"

"No Merry, it wasn't your fault. You didn't get it wrong, now Come on."

"How would you know! You don't know anything! Now you have to go."

She was pleading at the end and Loki felt ugly twisting in his stomach. It wasn't Merrys fault, it was his fault. Merry hadn't wanted to sing, she had been afraid and He had told Merry to sing anyway. He had sent Merry here.

"Go! Before he eats us all!"

Loki looked at the glass cage in the middle of the tempel. To Loki, the creature seemed to be dead.

Hopping the low stepping stones Loki examined at the creature inside the glass closer.

"Sometimes when sombody claims to be god, they realy aren't. Trust me I know. And I don't think this one looks big enough to eat us all."

"Not our meat, our souls!"

Loki turned back to merry and tried to grap her shoulder, when something crackled around his hand. There was violet energy gathering around him. Studying him, poking at him. The foreign magic pinched on all his nerves. They needed to leave now, but apparently it wouldn't be as easy as just physically dragging the girl out. Loki glanced back at the corpse dressed in robes, sitting on its throne. Was the corpse doing magic afterall. Was it somekind of defence system of the temple, not allowing him to touch the girl. Was it Merry herself, behind the painfull violent energy, only visible to his eyes.

"He doesn't want you, he wants me! You have to leave now, or he will eat you too!"

The Doctor was panting back at the doorway.

"And you don't want that do you! You want us all walk out of this realy, quite astoudingly heavy door, and never come back!" The Doctor panted out between breaths.

"Yes"

"I see. Right. Well thats never gonna happen."

Then The Doctor lowered his screwdriver and rolled inside the doorway. There was a mighty slam as the door closed with everyone still inside.

Loki closed his eyes and took a deep calming breath.

"Did you just lock us in...with the soul eating monster?"

"Yep."

"Is there any other way out?"

"Before it eats our souls?"

"Idealy!"

"Possibly, maybe, propably, there usualy seems to be."

Loki didn't know wethere to be scared to death or seethingly angry. He opted for the anger.

"Are you insane?!"

the foreign magic kept clawing against him. Having had enough of the painfull way it tried to break against his own, Loki lashed out letting his own golden burst push away the unfamiliar power. At least for a moment.

the man siting in the middle was still chanting away, seemingly not even noticing all the drama around him.

"And what are you still singing about!" Loki demanded. It might have not been the right place to vent his anger, but he still did it.

The Doctor had crouched in front of the chanting man, ignoring the raging Loki behind him.

"Hes singing the old god to sleep. But it's not working anymore, is it. He is coming, ready or not and you might wanna run."

The man stopped his chanting

It felt like the power in the room doubled, the old twisted power gathering around Loki and breaking through his own protection effortlessly. Like ropes the power twisted all around him and physically yanked him up the stone steps, throwing Lokis back against the gold glass of the cage.

Loki could see the robed man lift his gaze up to see Lokis golden magic battling against the violet one and losing. Loki could see pity in the mans eyes before he smiply vanished, leaving behind only the crisp smell of ozone. A skywalker then. And a powerfull sorcerer. And also someone who knew that there was no hope in going against the old god. It was not a reassuring thought.

"that's it then the songs over." The Doctor did not sound as terrified as would have been appropiate for the situation, instead he sounded even little exited. Loki did truly have the worst tour guide in the history of the universe.

Pointing his whirring screwdriver at the glass, The Doctor hopped the steps up and joined Loki in the top step. Loki still couldn't move.

There was huge roar behind Loki and he could feel something banging on the glass behind his back.

"It's awake isn't it!?"

"Well, you know, he's having a nice strech." The Doctor rambled. "And you know what. We didn't wake him."

The Doctor was now circling the glass and then turned to point Merry with his screwdriver.

"And you didn't wake him."

Another roar and a pound on the glass.

"He woke up, because it was his time to do so."

The pounding was now rhytmical.

"And feed on your story."

The Doctor was still pointing at Merry.

Loki tried to stear his mind away from the pounding happening behind his back. Through gritted teeth he hissed at The Doctor: "She didn't say story, she said soul."

The bonds were still holding and even more alarmingly, Loki could feel them sucking his own magic away. The creature was feeding on his magic! Loki tried to trash, but the invisible hooks just sunk deeper in.

"The same thing. Songs made of stories, not actions, everything that ever happened to us, people we loved, people we lost, people we found. When he awakes, people offer him pure soul, the soul of the queen of years. You look scared, good you should be. you are sacrifacing yourself. You should know what it means." The Doctor addressed Merry.

It was true, Merry did look scared. Her resolve was starting to crack, there was fear in her eyes and she started to back away from the stone steps.

Loki didn't wonder why. He could hear another roar vibrating in the thin class protecting him from the beast inside the glass. This was not how he wanted to die. Being rended helpless by foreign magic and being unable to even see the beast that would end him.

Idealy he didn't want to die at all. Funny thing, it had only been few days, but it seemed like ages ago, that he had decided to end his own life. Of course he couldn't have died then, but had to die now that he didn't want to.

"Do you know what that means Merry?" The Doctor was still talking to the girl.

"the god chose me."

"It is not a god. It wants to feast on your soul, but that doesn't make it a god. It is a vampire and you don't have to give yourself to it. Let me tell you a story you might have not heard."

The Doctor crouched down to meet the scared girl. He was speaking in soft voice that Loki had no more attention to listen. Instead his brains concentrated on the growling noise coming from just behind his right ear. He was angry, bitter and frustrated. Why couldn't he have just died in the void. In peace and quiet. Why had The Doctor picked him up just to die here. In some far away planet, eaten alive by some unfamiliar monster. He hated The Doctor for bringing him here and most of all he hated The Doctor for giving him hope and will to live again, only for that life to be ripped from him. And he hated himself for being too weak and helpless to do anything about it.

"And finaly those elements came together to create you, Merry Galel. You are unique in the universe, there never was another, and never will be another Merry Galel. Getting rid of that existence isn't a sacriface, it is a waste."

"And what about me!" Loki shouted. It was all well and good, but right now it was him and not Merry in the most threatening situation.

"Hold on!" The Doctor called out and whipped his screwdriver out again. He dashed back up the steps to stand besides Loki again. "I need you to work with me here. One good energy blast against the restrainst and I'll do the rest. You distract, I'll do the lock-picking."

Loki nodded.

"Good, on my count. Three, two, one, now!"

Loki ignited against the power that was holding him. His eyes once against blackened and sparked at the same time, but then he could feel his body being let go. Gravity helped him to fall down from the steps.

Glancing back up when his eyes once again cleared, Loki saw that there was now a crack in the glass wall, exactly where his lower back had been seconds ago. The ugly creature inside was howling and throwing itself to the walls like a madman.

The Doctor helped Loki again to find his unsteady footing. "Great, now you just open that door again and we can leave?" Loki let the unspoken question linger at the end of the sentence.

The Doctor did an apologetic wiggle with his hands "I'm afaraid that might have been only one way ticket. There are limits even to the sonic-"

Merrys faint voice silenced Lokis upcoming rage before it could even get out of his mouth.

"Something is coming." Merry whispered. "The vigil." Her voice was shaky. "They have been training me my whole life. Looking after me. Preparing me. They know that I have been bad."

Loki was about to correct to the clearly brainwashed girl that gaining the approval her caretakers was not healthy anymore if you had to literally kill yourself for it, but he had no time. True to Merrys words the vigil did arrive.

masked guards, all in black materialized in the room. The vigil. Even if they had changed the wardrobe, from red robes to black leather, Loki recognized them as the same ones that he had seen chacing Merry when Merry had asked Loki to hide her. Now Loki wished that he would have hidden Merry more permamently.

"I'm sorry!" Loki could hear Merrys frantcic yell behind him. Loki was feeling uncontrollable rage towards the Doctor, towards the unhelpfull people of akhaten, towards the old god, towards the traditions of akhaten and towards himself, but not towards Merry. She was the only piece in this play that had done nothing wrong.

"Don't you dare to be sorry!" Loki snarled, but didn't let his eyes of of the three men he was facing.

Loki gathered his power to his fingertips.

The doctor was holding his screwdriver up and pointing it at the vigil.

"Don't come any closer! I am armed!" he threathened them. Loki gritted his teeth. While no doubt ingenious and powerfull in it's own way, Loki was quite sure that the thing that The Doctor was carrying was not a weapon of any kind.

The Doctor seemed to know this too, as he added with frustration. "With a screwdriver."

One of the masked men let out a screeching violet tinted energy blast from where his mouth would be under the mask and blasted the screwdriver from Doctors hands. Another blast send the time lord flying towards the wall.

Another one of them turned towards Loki and let out same kind of energy blast. Loki blocked it with practiced ease. Whatever power had been holding him prisoner before, was not reachable for the vigil. Now taking the offensive, Loki created a clone of himself to draw the attention of the attackers for that second he needed to blast his own golden force. Loki very rarely used his magic as an offensive weapon, very rarely having to battle other spellcasters.

Magic was an double edged sword that way. Those who could wield it, were also more vulrenable to it.

The vigil answered with a shield of energy of their own, but were not strong enough to completely block Lokis rage fueled attack. All three were thrown backwards against the stone steps of the old god

Doctor had scrambled to his feet and had the screwdriver again in his hands.

"Good job Loki."

Loki didn't waste time waiting, but with few well placed swift kicks to the head made sure that the vigil would not rise up to attack again.

Merry whimpered at the display of violence and Loki felt sorry for the girl. Loki might have been trying to protect Merry, but this was still the same vigil that had looked over Merry her entire life. It was a miracle that she was still standing, having just found out that those she had trusted had planned to feed her soul to an bloodthirsty monster.

"Is there any other way out?" Loki questioned nobody in particular, while glancing around.

"Well... there is a tale. A secret song." Merry hesitantly answered.

Loki didn't see as he had his back turned towards them, but he could hear the Doctors manic grin in his voice as he spoke. "And a secret song opens a secret door! Right?! Good, fantastic, can you sing it now Merry?"

Merry opened his mouth and started singing. There were no words in her song, just notes rising and falling up and down, but it seemed that Merry had been right, there was a rumbling noise and a small stone door opened up in the wall of the temple.

The three of them made quick way in the cold corridor and finaly made it out into the bright glare of the orange sun again.

From inside the temple echoed great noise of shattering glass. The gace had finaly broken. The beast that had been trapped inside let out mighty roar and The Doctor wasted no time in using his screwdriver to seal the door closed behind them again.

Merry let out small scream and latched herself to Loki. Loki put his own arms around the girl too, and not only for comfort of the girl.

It became eerily silent. There were no more roars from the old god that had broken from his gace. Or any other sound at all.

"Why did it go silent?" Loki questioned slowly.

"The Doctor looked worried. His face was now more worried than it had been inside the temple. It creeped loki out.

"I might have made a teeny tiny tactical mistake. A boo boo in calculations."

"A mistake! What kind of a mistake!?"

"well I thought that the old god was the grandfather. It wasn't. It was just the grandfathers alarm clock."

"What exactly are you trying to say?!"

The Doctor didn't need to answer, for the answer was forming right in front of Lokis eyes.

"Dear Valhalla."


	5. rings of akhaten part 3

_Heyaa! Thanks for your patience everyone. Thank you for all of those who reviewd, all of your messages have been hugely appreciated._

* * *

The sun, in all of its orange glory was twisting and revolving until there was a huge black gaping mouth formed in the middle of its round shape.

They were going to die. They. Were. Going. to. Die.

"No. You promised." All courage that Merry had had, was now gone. She was now just a terrified little girl and Loki wasn't sure which one of them she was now talking. To him, or to The Doctor.

"You promised it was going to be alright. Now it's going to eat us all. And then it's going to eat all of the seven systems and spread beyond and..."

"Okay, shhs. I know I promised." The Doctor told the girl. Loki still couldn't find his own voice.

There would be no way of fighting that. Even his brot...Thor would run in this situation. An army of asgard would run, for valhallas sake.

"We have to leave." Loki heard himself say with calm that he did not feel.

"Yes. Great idea. Let's go to the nineteenth century London, they make great scones in there. Good plan."

"you aren't going to leave? Are you? You are going to fight it!"

"Regrettably yes."

Loki had to tore his eyes off of the abomination on the sky to stare at the madman beside him.

"How? It's ennormous!"

"Nah, I've seen bigger."

"Realy?"

"are you joking! It's massive!"

Lokis stomach felt cold, but the asgardian prince in him forced the next words out of his mouth.

"How do we fight it?"

"We don't fight anything. You are going to take Merry and run as fast and far as you can."

"Are you telling me to run from battle?"

"Yes."

"That can't be right. It never happens. Turning away from the enemy is dishonorable and cowardly. You said that we must never walk away."

"No! But do you know what is truly honorable and brave. That when we have something precious, we hold on to that and we run and run. We do not make sacrifaces in the name of honor. We protect and if there is any way to do that protecting while hiding and cowering from the enemy, we will damn well do that. Now. You are going to take Merry, and the moped, and go. Don't worry. I'll catch up you later." The Doctor ended his speech with a wink.

Loki couldn't decide if the Doctor was the bravest or the maddest person he had ever met.

"Go! Somebody needs to get the girl out of here." The Doctor pointed out and Loki found himself agreeing.

Hopping on the moped and driving away from the temple, Merry holding tightly on his waist, Loki wondered of The Doctor.

Everything he said, sounded as far away from the asgardian line of thinking as possible, but still The Doctor seemed to be braver than any warrior of asgard.

Landing on the arena sand, Loki glanced back to the temple. The lone pyramid seemed so small in front of the blazing old god. That was it. He was going to lose the time lord. A moment ago, he had been ready to skin the time lord himself, but now he felt just hollow. It shoudn't have ended like this.

Merry was still standing next to him and gazing at the pyramid too.

"Isn't he frightened.?" Merrys small voice asked.

"I think he is." He would be insane not to be, Loki thought.

"I want to help him."

"Merry, there is nothing we can do."

"But I want to."

Stubbornely, Merry walked towards the small podium where she had been singing and started to sing again.

First, little unsteady, but then gaining strenght, her voice floated in the air. The crowd, slowly slinking back from where ever it had dispersed to, started to sing with her. Loki had not expected that, but it did create a strong melody, that however mad he might have been to the audience, was still beautifull in its own way.

Loki wished that The Doctor would hear it in that temple.

Loki knew that he had reached a crossroads of an sorts. There were now many different kind of actions he could take, but none of them seemed very favorable.

One, he could find the tardis and lock himself in. Not a good plan, as the tardis didn't seem to want to let him in without the Doctor.

Two, he could flee by himself. There were many travelers in the market, it was possible that one of them would take Loki with them, or Loki could just hide himself in some local transport and travel to some galaxy far far away and hope that he would survive. Not a good plan either, too many risks and Loki didn't fancy such uncertainity in his life at the moment. Or maybe the truth was that he was still too tired to fight for his life like that.

Three, he could grab Merry, demand that she flee with him, like The Doctor propably would have wanted. Merry was the local knowledge bank, so she would know where to go and how to leave. It wasn't that bad of a plan.

It was actualy the best plan that he had and The Doctor had told him to take merry and run. As long and as far as they could.

Loki didn't want to do that either. Would they truly ever be safe. Discraged prince and queen on a death penalty.

There was also something else forming in Lokis mind. An idea, a mad, mad idea, but it was taking root inside his thoughts.

Or maybe he was just afraid of dying alone.

May the reason be whatever it is. Loki still took the moped and headed back towards the temple.

(And maybe it was the voice of his mother in his head. Telling him how brave he has always been.)

When Loki found The Doctor, his face was crunched in pain, and he was lying on the ground. The panting breaths leaving the time lords mouth told Loki that he was still alive, but clearly in great pain.

Loki walked past the time lord. Now was not the time. Now all his atenttion was given to the creature wanting to devour the universe.

"You want stories right!" Lokis voice was not as steady as he would have liked it to be.

"souls. Energy. Magic. In the end they are all just the same thing to you. Well I've got you story. A story of a lifetime!" The sun was watching him. He could feel it now. The breathtaking power all concentrating on him. A little asgardian, no a jötnar runt. Standing in front of this creature, older than he will ever be and more powerfull than he could ever imagine. It was grinning at him.

So Loki did the stupidest and bravest thing he has ever done. He offered his hands to the sun-god, palms up and kept them there as the golden trendils snaked their ways around them.

"This skin is a lie! A beautiful lie weaved by the allfather himself! This skin is nothing more than a story! It is a story of a childhood! It is a story of a family! It is story of life that was a lie! It is a magic trick, played to fool everyone! It is full of promises that got broken! It is full of dreams that will never be fullfilled!"

Lokis pale aesir skin was peeling off of him in a golden dust. The blueness was revealed from under it and Loki could feel how the spell rushed trought his veins, until it reached his skin and finaly left him, to turn into golden dust in the air.

Loki could feel the sun gods power inside him. Ancient, hungry. But also...full. The creature was reaching its limit. No wonder, It had just gone against a time lord. A time lord must have been a true competant, even for a creature as powerfull as that one.

Still it continued to suck the aesir form from Loki.

"This is the son Odin could have had! Instead of an stolen relic! This is who I could have been, instead of an monster! These are all the days that could have been, and that never were! Take it. Take all of it. I'm offering you my magic! It might not be as pure as the soul of the queen of years, but there are lots of it."

the sun god extended its essence and Loki was overwhelmed. It was like burning and freezing, but at the same time it was like waking back to life. It tore Loki apart and build him back together again. It was pure unnlimited power pulsing inside him.

There was also a voice. An ancient voice.

"Little asgardian who plays with true gods. I know who you are Loki."

Loki felt the fire burning in his veins. He did not scream, but the agony forced him on his knees. He would have regretted his heroic choice, if he had had any energy to think.

The voice continued echoing inside his mind.

"The ragnarök bringer travels with the one who burns inside time itself. Death is a cheap price to pay for stories that you together will create."

Loki was falling again. He was trapped inside a spinning vertigo that went down, down, down. He was burning and freezing. He felt the infinity opening in his shadow and it was going to swallow him.

"I see them. I see them all!" Loki did not as much hear the voice, but feel it, but still you could say that there was almost manic edge in the ancient voice now.

"I see the end and the start and all the infinities between. Loki who will kill gods and destroy suns. Loki who will bring the ragnarök."

The burning had increased to the level that Loki could no more tell himself apart from the pain. He was the fire and he burned in the middle of the dark empty infinity.

"My brother is a fool to pursue you under his command, tiny asgardian. Goodbye titan-killer." The voice got fainter and was no more than a whisper in the end. Loki did not think of this, as he was not conscious enough to even hear it. But the voice was still there, before the sun-god collapsed in on itself.

Loki woke up to gentle sunligh warming his eylids. There was no more blazing red star giving light to them, there was only the sun, now more pale but also giving out warmer, more natural light.

Loki did not notice any of these things. His whole body hurt and his head was ringing. Blinking his eyes fully open, he could see the form of The Doctor fussing over him.

Noticing Loki's blinking eyes, The Doctor was soon smiling down to him.

"we did it Loki." The Doctors voice came to Lokis ears like it had traveled from somwhere far away, even if the time lord had said it right next to Lokis ear.

Loki shakily smiled to The time lord, before the darkness took him again.

The next time Loki woke up, he was in his bedroom in the tardis.

The next thing he noticed was that he was in his jotun form. Jumping up in horror Loki tried to will his aesir skin to return. It was in vain. Nothing happened. Like a tidal wave, the memories of the past day came flooding back. The planet, Merry, the old god. He had given his asgardian form to the old god. He had given his magic to the old god!"

He had given his magic away. All of it. Even the spell that the allfather had put over him to keep the moster hidden. There was numbness in Lokis legs and he ended up collapsing on the floor. Sitting down against the leg of his bed, he wondered how his life ended up like this.

Maybe if he would close his eyes, he would finaly wake up in his own bed in Asgard and he would be an aesir and his brother would be there and everything would be fine.

He didn't. He was still inside the tardis, stuck in his true monsterous skin.

There was a knock on the door.

"Loki, you okay?"

Without waiting for an answer, The Doctor stepped in.

"There you are. Awake and dapper. How are you feeling? Any dizzyness? Headache? Soreness?"

For a moment, Loki could do nothing but stare. It was like the time lord could not even see the change in Loki. So he exploded.

"Aren't you afraid!"

"Afraid? Just hours ago I went to face down a massive god like creature the size of a sun, that wanted to eat all of our souls, and you are asking if I'm afaid now!"

Of course The Doctor wouldn't fear him. He was a time lord. He might look harmless, but he clearly was nothing but. The time lords wouldn't fear monsters like the frost giants. The Doctor was tho one who fought the monsters without fearing them.

"Why are you pretending that nothing is wrong. You let a frost giant inside your precious ship. Aren't you disgusted!"

The Doctors face melted into an worried frown. Loki sneered back.

"No Loki. Why would you say that. Of course I knew from the first night that you spent here, that you weren't an aesir. I had the tardis scan you for your health."

Now Loki was baffeled and a little bit angry. This was the vault talk with Odin all over again.

"Then why didn't you say anything!"

"Well, I thought that it was none of my bussines. It is your race afterall, shouldn't pry into it. Quite personal thing. You told me that you were asgardian, so I called you asgardian. I was being tactfull. You know, social tact and all that nonsense. I'm doing it wrong again aren't I?"

Loki just stared at him.

"Okay. Listen. I know that you asgardians are a little testy around the jotuns, with all those wars and everything, and I have no idea what your story is, but the jotuns are not a race that would make me disgusted. Believe me they are not."

"They are monsters!"

"They realy aren't. I've seen true monsters, and you are not one. I've seen creatures that disgust me with their existence, but the jotuns are not one of them. They are far from them."

Loki didn't answer and after a moment of silence The Doctor grapped his hand and started to help him up.

"Come on then, lets get you up again."

Rising on his feet Loki pondered on doctors words. The Doctor could say anything he wanted, it still made Loki feel sick when he saw the blue skin of his arms.

The Doctor had guided him in the kitchen and soon there was a cup of tea sitting on the table in front of him.

"We are still in Akhetan. I tought you might want to say goodbye to Merry before we leave. Merry at least wants to see you before we leave."

"She does?"

"of course! You saved her! Actualy you saved the whole system. People are very gratefull. See we even got gifts!"

The Doctor grinned and pulled a basket from under the table. It was full of those electric blue coloured fruits that Loki and The Doctor had eaten in the begining of all this. Loki absentmindedly picked one and bit in to the sweet tasting fruit.

"actually they would have given us much more, but I told them that the fruits were enough. They were not easy to persuade, oh and, also this."

The Doctor fished a small object from his pocket and put it on the table. It was Loki's button. With the asgardian royal symbol carved into it and all.

Loki stared at it. It glinted back at him.

"Your home isn't lost."

Now Loki snapped his eyes to look at The Doctor. "yes it is." he snapped back.

"No it isn't. Your home is not lost, you are lost. There is a difference. Your home is still there, waiting for you to come back, and it will wait for you till you've find your way back again. It might take years, or even centuries, or even millenia, but it is there. It doesen't matter that right now you see no way of returing, because one day you will."

Loki wanted to make a scatching remark. Something along the lines, how would you know, but his tongue was held back.

There was weight in The Doctors words. Weight that suggested that a remark like that would not be very "tactfull".

Instead he ended up saying. "But right now I'm still lost."

now The Doctor smiled again. "Don't worry. Being lost is not a bad thing to be when you're with me. It means that while being lost, you can also be everywhere and everywhen."

Loki felt a smile tug on his lips. The time lord truly was a fairytale, as nothing else could have made Loki feel that kind of shimmering hope inside him. It felt like being a child again, instead this time the stars were not unreachable.

"You are a creature full of surprises Doctor."

"Yeah, that's me, now let's go meet Merry!"

"I'm going to miss you."

Merry was hugging the breath away from Loki, who was again wearing the pale skin of an aesir. Loki had refused to leave the tardis in his jotun form, no matter what The Doctor had assured him of, and finaly, after many arguments, the doctor had dissappeared inside one of the spare rooms and brought with him a little device.

"It is called a shimmer." he had said and then tied a trings around it making it a crude necklace. It was somekind of an alien tech, and it was used as a disguise. The shimmer had worked and he now looked again like the aesir that odins magic had made him look like. Pale skin and green eyes. The shimmer was not comfrotable, as it made his skin shiver, but Loki would take the goosebumbs and itchiness hundreds times over letting others see his true skin.

"I'm going to miss you too." Loki whispered to Merry and actualy meant it. Merry was a brilliant child and he knew that she would be an amazing queen. Not just a sacriface, but a true ruler.

"Thank you. For everything. And I don't mean just that you saved my life, I mean everything."

Loki felt a warm tingling in his stomach again and he doubted that it had anything to do with the shimmer. Sentimentals. How did he fall into such sentimantals so fast.

Oh yes, The Doctor. The time lord in mention was grinning at the pair like he could read Lokis mind.

How did The Doctor make him so soft in such a little time.

Then again he had just been helping in the downfall of an ancient soul eating god-like creature. Maybe The Doctors way wasn't so bad afterall. Maybe all these sentimentals weren't making him weak.

Seeing The Doctors smile just broaden, Loki had to wonder if the time lord could read minds, or were his thoughs just so plain to see on his face.

Maybe it didn't even matter that much.

* * *

Meanwhile on earth.

_I dont know where I am!_

_I DONT KNOW WHERE I AM!_

_I dont know where I am!_

Jarvis!

_I dont know where I am!_

Jarvis are you listening?

Yes sir.

I swear you weren't just listening me. How is that possible you aren't programmed to zone me out, that's just rude.

I'm sorry sir, I thought i heard some interference in the datacloud.

You, what?

I probably just imagined it sir.

Jarvis, you're an AI. You don't imagine anything.

It must have been a glitch then.

Okay whatever, we have a tower to plan, no time to waste, lets get to work then.

Of course sir.


End file.
